the worms won't harm the fish...

With cory's yes... they'll do fine with a betta - but be kind and give the cory a friend at least, if not two. They really do like company and are best kept in trios and more. But in a small betta tank (not sure what size you have - mine are 3 gallons) I have two panda cory's with one of the bettas. Also provide a small shelter for them to hide. In this tank it gets a a couple of flakes of food in with the betta pellets. Pellets stay afloat, flakes sink for the corys. A couple of times a week I throw in half an algae wafer for the corys in lieu of the flake food for the day.

haven't had much luck with pellet foods floating. I had some leftover Hikari Goldfish food pellets initially, which the Betta likes and which float well. In the best interests of a correct diet, I purchased Betta food floating pellets, which promptly sink upon hitting the water. It's a touch frustrating. Until I can come up with a solution, I'm sticking with the goldfish pellets (which have fish meal and other carnivore-friendly stuffs at the beginning of the ingredient list).

At 2.5 gallons, I'm reluctant to even add one additional fish, nevermind 3. Perhaps the Corys aren't such a good idea after all. Hmmm.

Any other thoughts for bottom feeders who could clean up the sunken pellets?

Hi Jozzie. I can't be of help with tank mates for Bettas,although I have heard that Ghost Shrimp and White Clouds would be good in the tank. The Ghost Shrimp may help clean the bottom of the tank,though I am not sure. Why not call on a pet store and ask what they suggest. Between the store and the nice folks here on the forum,you should be able to come up with something in no time.

I keep each of my males in a small(2.5 gallon)tank by themselves and they seem to be very happy.
As far as food,one of my bettas(Buddy) eats 'Betta floating mini pellets' by Wardly. They do not sink rapidly and he seems to enjoy them. One betta(oddly enough named Betta)wants no part of the pellet diet and quickly consumes the floating flakes before they have a chance to sink,which they do rather quickly imo. My third(Bradley)eats either one.
About twice a week I treat them all to some freeze dried blood worms.
Hope this will be of some service to you.
Grice

In a 2.5 gallon you could add a pair of cory cats and not be overstocked. The glass shrimp will clean up uneaten food from the bottom also. The corys will even help eat up the planaria worms, they will dig them out as a special treat! The corys will need a small anmout of food to sink to the bottom for them, they rarely go to the top to eat so they wont bother the top feeding betta.

The 2.5 is already overstocked just by having a betta in it. A betta's full size is 3 inches.

Make sure you get rid of any uneaten food. I do this by using a turkey baster. Your tank should be 78-80 degrees and out of the way of direct sunlight; that promotes algae.

I've never had planarian worms before, so I'm not really able to answer your question. Keep temps down at 78-80, clean regularly (100% change every 2 weeks), and keep the tank out of sunlight is all I can say.

As someone has already mentioned corys like company so should NOT be kept in less that groups of three. If you could move your betta to a 10 gallon.....you could add 10 corys and all would be happy. Corys in larger groups are much more comfortable and will interact more. Making the tank more fun to watch.

I looked up planarians and found out that they are introduced with live foods. It also says they will multiply rapidly if the conditions are right. They are preditors and will compete with fish for food. ewwww that doesn't sound very good.......it said they are difficult to control.......so don't have an answer on how to get rid of them either.

If you move your fish to a 10 gallon to add the school of cory's that would work I would think. If you are sure they are planarian worms then change your live food to something else or another brand if possible. Bettas and corys love micro worms.....if you can find a live culture they are pretty easy to keep going. Or hatch baby brine shrimp, for some alternative live foods.

I'm not able to upsize my tank much beyond a 5 gal (and that may even be pushing it). I live in a 140 year old house, in a teeny apartment directly above my landlords' ceiling. I would prefer their priceless, original, really old and very ornate plaster molding not crumble and fall due to being soaked with 10+ gallons of water in some aquarium-related mishap.

The whole reason I got a Betta was that I assumed, given their dixie-cup lifestyle at the petstore, that 2.5 gal with filter and plants would be palatial by comparison. And, like many others, I pitied the poor fish and wanted to save one.

My other plan was to get a wee anemone and a wee clownfish and have the worlds teeniest saltwater reef tank. I thought the Betta might be easier.

Thanks everyone for the input. :)

You might want to try BioBlend Betta food. (Small little bottle with a blue cap) Thats what I feed mine. Its very slow to sink too. He gobbles that stuff up!

Hi again,

Ohhhhh ya....you wouldn't want your landlord wearing your fish tank. LOL!!

I re-read your original post again. I wouldn't recommend adding any other fish to this small of a tank. Your betta should be okay in there by himself.

A few questions did come to mind though......how often are you cleaning and doing a water change in this tank? Are you stirring the gravel and siphoning out the debris from the bottom in every water change?

What you might find works better is to not leave the light on for very long...incandencent lighting is not good....as it heats up the tank. Your betta will be much happier in temps of 76F to 79F and a more constant temp.

Also if you could find a small siphon with the bulb that you squeeze to start the water flow....you might find cleaning the tank a lot easier. I have attached a small dowel to the siphon with elastics for stiring gravel and for use in the fry tanks....

Water changes should be done at least once a week and about 25% of the water taken out and replaced with water of the same temp. If you want to do larger water changes...they should be done more often....like every second day. The reason for this is so your betta doesn't go into shock with the larger change in water perameters.

As for feeding.....yes its a good idea to hand feed one pellet at a time......as a general rule...a fish can't eat more than the size of his eye. Or if you prefer...what the fish doesn't eat in 5 minutes should be scooped out.

Once you get the temperature under control and the cleaning of the gravel and water changes on a routine....and feed only what the fish will eat.....the worms will disappear. This will get rid of the conditions that they like and you will siphon them out in your cleaning.

Also make sure you give your betta a varied diet...just to make sure he is getting all the nutrients that he needs.

You will find that your male betta will spend a lot of time at the top of the tank building a buble nest, when he is happy.

Hope this is more helpful! :)

I have been keeping the tank around 75-80 degrees (tho I know it can get up to 90). By turning the light off during the day and cracking the tank lid, I've managed to keep my temps reasonably consistent. I've been confused of late, reading several posts here and seeing a large range of recommended temps for Bettas.

Unfortunately, running the light long enough for the plants in my tank is also encouraging algae growth in the gravel. My tank is well away from windows, although I've more glass area in my apartment than floor area. I never had an algae issue before I put the hood on the tank, but I did have lots of plants die on me.

I change the water about 50% every week. I vacuum the rocks with a siphon, stirring up as much of the muck from the gravel as possible. There's still muck down there, but if i suck out any more I'm looking at total water changes. The water I replace the muck with has been conditioned and temp-adjusted to match the tank.

In addition, I have a whisper filter (set on a very low speed) with charcoal and zeolite, which I change out every month.

I've now started "handfeeding" one pellet at a time... stupid betta food I purchased won't float for more than 15 seconds. Perhaps this will encourage a much stronger relationship between myself and my Betta. He eats about 8 pellets at a feeding (they're smallish, or maybe he's just piggy).

I wasn't aware until the other day that the bubbles I saw were a "nest". Maybe I'll turn the filter speed back down a bit and see if that helps him rebuild it.

Thanks so much for the tips... :)

A cory and ghost schrimp would be OK. I have 1 cory in my 150 gal tank for years with no problem. A 2.5 gal tank is kind of small, a 10gal would be perfect. 90 degrees is kind of hot, I'd try to stay between 75-80.

The betta will greedily eat the planarians. I would hesitate putting a ghost shrimp in with a betta unless it is a big shrimp. bettas love live food and will likely peck at them. Especially the shrimp's legs and antennae. Otherwise, shrimp are great bottom vacuum cleaners. If you can find one cheap, try it.

Cory's are very sociable fish......they should be kept in groups of at least 3, but more is better. A single specimen might survive, but its kind of mean to single just one out. Don't we want our fish to be happy and comfortable?

A ghost shrimp is not a suitable companion for a betta, especially in such a small tank.

Jozzie.....that is a much better temp. Its actually much easier to maintain larger tanks than it is small ones. Yes there is lots of conflicting info out there on keeping fish.

Your tank is really to small to have live plants growing in. However it can be done.....but you will have to change your hood/light to a florescent light. Florescent lights don't heat up the tank the same as incandescent. Plants need quite a bit of light........and if you left the incandencent light on that long...it would be way to hot for your betta and he may not survive.

You don't really need to use zeolite, unless you are having an amonia problem. Is there some sort of sponge in this filter. And yes run the filter on very low....bettas like to spend a lot of time at the top building bubble nests....if the flow is to strong your betta may not be comfortable enough to build a bubble nest.

If you use the pygmy cory cats that only reach half an inch or so keeping a group wont be a stress on a small tank and it will make for happy cories too . Hastus corys are very tiny but busy, active lil cuties to watch. They are the ideal catfish if catfish are wanted for a small tank.

If you can find them! ;) Seems like suddenly all the LFS around me don't have a variety of cories at all!! :(

Can Snails be put in with a Betta?

Betta will be fine with snails too big to eat, I have seen them nibble at the tiny ones. Snails can be rough on water quality tho so keep up with the water changes.

Thank you for your reply...guess I will stick to getting the dwarf cory cats then if I can find them.
I just assumed that snail kept the bowls cleaner.